Meet the Blockpass Team - 5 Minutes with CTO Thomas Leiritz

Where are you from and what is your work background?
I am originally from France. I started my career as web developer in a startup back in 1999. We created an online imagery database of aerial pictures taken by helicopter, it was kind of like a precursor of Google Maps :) In 2001, I left France for Istanbul, Turkey where I stayed 6 years. Then, I moved to South East Asia. Vietnam was just starting to open up to the world and posed amazing opportunities. I joined a software outsourcing company for several years then I co-founded a web and mobile agency, that was eventually killed by the financial crisis in 2015. Like many people in the industry, I was following the blockchain and crypto revolution. In 2016, I finally decided to join it and learned the technology around it.

What is your role at Blockpass?
I am the CTO and in charge of the product.

What do your daily activities look like?
Everyday is a new adventure in the crypto world and in a early stage startup. Most difficult part of the job is to mitigate technical debt in an ever-changing environment. Security is of course our main focus, we spend a huge amount of time to test and audit our tools.

How did you get involved in Blockpass?
Through our joint-venture partner, Infinity Blockchain Labs that is based in Vietnam. I have been involved with the Blockpass project from the very beginning.

What’s your favourite blockchain related benefit?
Nobody owns a blockchain or everybody does. It's decentralised and immutable. There is no equivalence in software or other industries. Developers can now access a whole new dimension that was previously obfuscated by trust issues.

Where do you see the industry headed over the next 5 years?
I hope we can reach a point in time where nobody talks about blockchain anymore. It will become an obvious, simple and efficient solution for most industries.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history, who would it be and why?
I wouldn't do that. 'The encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum, and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's a worse case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy' - Dr Emmett Brown.

- Thomas Leiritz is the CTO of Blockpass. To get in touch with Thomas, email [email protected]